If you’re a legacy AT&T customer, your phone bill could be going up as much as $20 a month, with the popular US telecommunication provider planning to increase the price of its older plans from August.
As telecommunication providers continue to steer loyal users to their newer plans, the company’s decision to hike prices follows similar actions made by competitors, with T-Mobile deciding to bump the price of its legacy plan by $5 per month just two weeks ago.
However, AT&T is planning to cushion the blow by increasing the amount of high-speed and hotspot data offered by these plans. Curious about what these changes could mean for you? Read on to see if your plan is impacted by the pricing restructure, and if it’s worth staying loyal to the package if so.
Which AT&T Plans Are Affected By The Price Increase?
After upping the cost of all of its plans by 99 cents per line per month in March, AT&T is ramping up its prices again in August, according to a recent blog post by the company. The carrier will be raising rates by $10 per month for users with a single line of service, or $20 per month for those with multiple lines.
AT&T explained the changes will affect “most of our older unlimited plans”, including the following packages:
- AT&T Unlimited & More Premium
- AT&T Unlimited Choice Enhanced
- AT&T Unlimited & More
- AT&T Unlimited Choice II
- AT&T Unlimited Plus
- AT&T Unlimited Choice
- AT&T Unlimited Plan
- AT&T Unlimited Plus Enhanced
- AT&T Unlimited Value Plan
- AT&T Unlimited Plan (with TV)
This just in! View
the top business tech deals for 2024 👨💻
This follows similar measures the provider took in March, when it upped the cost of all of its plans by 99 cents, per line per month. At risk of affronting its oldest, most loyal customers, AT&T is planning to supplement these price hikes with additional perks, which we explore next.
AT&T Also Plans To Increase The Data Limits On Unlimited Plans
In an effort to consolidate legacy customers who may be disgruntled by the new pricing hikes, AT&T also announced it will be expanding the data packages offered in Unlimited tiers.
For example, the AT&T Unlimited Choice, Choice II, and Choice Enhanced plans will now include 30GB of hotspot data and 75GB of high-speed data, and Unlimited Plus, Plus Enhanced, Unlimited & More Premium, and AT&T (with TV) plans will now boast 60GB of hotspot data, and 100GB of high-speed data.
If you need to make extensive downloads and hot spots regularly for business or personal purposes, then the adjustment of AT&T’s may seem like a fair trade-off – especially as other providers like T-Mobile and Verizon recently increased the price of certain plans without improving their offering.
Yet, for the casual user with more modest data needs or less cash to spare, seeking an alternative plan or even ditching AT&T altogether may be a better option. If you’re unsure about what your next steps, we walk you through some potential options next.
Affected By AT&T’s Price Hike? Here Are Your Options
If you’re currently using one of AT&T’s plans impacted by the price change, you don’t have to continue paying a premium if you don’t want to. According to the telecommunications provider, customers can currently choose between the three following options:
1. Stick with the unlimited plan
Content with the extra perks you’ll receive in exchange for a slightly higher monthly fee? Then we’d recommend avoiding unnecessary administration by sticking with your current plans.
2. Migrate to one of AT&T’s newer plans
If you think the Unlimited plans’ renewed data packages will be wasted on you, you also have the option to move to one of AT&T’s newer plans.
For example, the provider’s ‘Unlimited Starter® SL‘ plan offers unlimited talk, text, and data in and between the U.S., Mexico, and Canada, alongside 5GB of hotspot data and 5G access for $66 per month for a single line. Alternatively, AT&T’s mid-range plan ‘AT&T Unlimited Extra EL‘ gives you unlimited talk, text, and data between the U.S., Mexico, and Canada, alongside 30GB of hotspot data for $76 per month for a single line.
According to the provider, both of these plans are subjected to slow data speeds if the network is busy, so it’s important to consider this before moving forward with a new package.
AT&T’s Unlimited Premium PL plan, on the other hand, does not have data slowdowns, and includes everything in the Extra plan alongside 30GB of extra hotspot data and 4K UHD streaming. The plan does cost slightly more at $86 per month for a single line, however, which will be on the pricier side for most casual users.
3. Leave AT&T altogether
Not content with any of these options? You’re also free to cancel your wireless service and pursue alternative providers. This may also be a good course of action for customers concerned about AT&T’s commitment to data security, with the company recently falling victim to a major data breach in March which compromised the personal data of 70 million customers.
However, if you have an installment plan in place, you’ll need to pay off your remaining installments first in order to keep your device. You can call AT&T at 800 331 0500 to discuss cancellation options, or to learn more about what next steps you can take with your account.